


Guests for Christmas, Family Forever

by sarcastic_fi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Ableist Language, Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Christmas, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, Family Issues, Gen, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Samuel-is-a-dick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28352547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_fi/pseuds/sarcastic_fi
Summary: Dean has to face spending Christmas with his least favourite relatives, however he doesn't have to do it alone! Going with him are his husband Castiel and his son Jack.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Deanna Campbell/Samuel Campbell, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, John Winchester/Mary Winchester, Kaia Nieves/Claire Novak
Comments: 7
Kudos: 88





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was created for destielsecretsanta2020, for fresh-young-soybean! I couldn't see a wishlist for you, sorry if I missed it, so here is a Christmassy fanfiction with Destiel against the Campbells! Hope you had a lovely Christmas and enjoy this offering!
> 
> AN/ all mistakes are my own! Apologies!  
> AN2/ Please note Samuel is not a very nice person in this. Wouldn't call him evil, just a giant unapologetic dickhead.

Castiel always sees the mail first by virtue of his nine-to-five at the apiary where he worked, so Dean knows there will be an argument the moment he lays eyes on the cream quilted envelope sat conspicuously atop of a pile of magazine subscriptions, bills and unsolicited credit card applications. The envelope is addressed to Mr Dean Winchester and judging by the looping elegant scrawl Deanna Campbell wrote it out. Dean had as little as possible to do with his grandparents, either set really, but it was impossible to avoid them completely since his mom was determined that they be such a close knit family. Dean parents were still married after forty years and lived together in Lawrence Kansas in the three bedroom house that Dean and his brother Sammy had been born and grown up in. Mary’s parents lived a town over on a sprawling farm that his cousins worked on, and last year John’s parents had moved to a retirement village only an hour away from Lawrence, although in the opposite redirection to the Campbell Farm. Dean himself had never escaped far from home, landing in Lebanon, Kansas, and moving into a three bed with a large lawn and a double garage called Bunker House. Sammy had travelled the furthest and ironically and managed to maintain golden boy status despite, or hell, maybe because, of it. He’d left at the tender age of eighteen for a full ride at college in Palo Alto and ended up opening up a law firm that specialised in helping families. Sam, no matter how much he screwed up, was always everyone’s favourite and Dean couldn’t even blame them when Sammy was his favourite too.

Dean left the letter on the table, knowing the effect it would have on him, and tore into a six pack of beer. Three drinks later and he was still too sober to handle the contents, so he unlocked the cabinet in the garage and opened up a bottle of mediocre whiskey, taking long deep swigs from the bottle. Finally a buzz started up in him and his fingers itched to rip into the letter. He destroyed the fancy paper and there it was, the kick in the teeth he’d been expecting but still hurt enough to penetrate his alcohol and exhaustion fuelled buzz;

For Dean Winchester and guests,  
You are cordially invited to a Campbell Christmas Gathering from the 24th-26th December.  
We hope to see you there.  
Samuel and Deanna Campbell 

And. Guests.

And. Fucking. Guests.

Mother fucking… and guests?

Dean swept the items off the table top in a fit of rage, bottles smashing and papers flying around him. Fucking guests? Fuck them and their ‘and guests’. Dean chugged the rest of the bottle and stuck his headphones on blasting out Led Zeppelin’s finest tunes as he struggled to calm down. He switched his iPod off after When the Levee Breaks finished and started the clean up process. He wasn’t a young man any more who could let himself be controlled by his anger, he had a home, a family and responsibilities and that included not leaving broken glass and shredded paper all over the kitchen floor.

After he had finished, now bone tired and feeling soulless, he started on his usual 3am checks, albeit much later than normal. Doors locked, windows shut, keys to his baby hidden from plane sight, freezer door properly shut, cooker definitely turned off at the mains, and then he crept upstairs for his favourite part of his pre-sleep ritual. First door on the right was the family bathroom, and he did a quick brush of his teeth before carrying on down the hallway. He opened a bedroom door with ‘Keep Out - This Means You’ poster on it and peeked inside to find Claire, his adoptive daughter, cuddled up with an ancient teddy that Castiel had gotten her one year, a smudge of eyeliner still on and a floor covered in aggressively black clothing, just as it should be. He closed the door behind him, allowing her the belief that she was too old to be looked over by her parents any more. The door opposite was already ajar, and Dean slipped inside to stared at a tiny boy in flannel sleeping peacefully the way only small children who felt safe and loved could. Jack was only two and Dean hoped he never grew up despite the fact that was an impossible prayer. Once Dean was satisfied that Jack was fine, he went to his own bedroom at the end of the hallway. He crawled into bed and immediately his partner of ten years turned over and wrapped himself around Dean. 

“Ugh, cold,” Castiel muttered.

“Saw the letter,” Dean said in return. 

“Are we going to fight about it now or in the morning?” Cas asked into Dean’s shoulder.

“It is the morning.”

“’Kay.”

“Technically.”

“Uh huh,” Cas said sleepily.

“So we can fight now. Then we can have make up sex,” Dean suggested.

Cas rose up with a sudden alertness, glaring suspiciously down at his partner. He sniffed the air noisily and winced. “You’re drunk.”

“Only way I could calm down after opening that god-damned-”

“Dean,” Cas growled in his gravelly ‘I’m serious now’ tone, “It’s five am, and in two hours I have to get up and shower so we are going to sleep, and you are going to call your mother tomorrow. We can argue after dinner.”

“So, snuggles?” Dean asked with a charming grin.

Cas collapsed back down on the bed, his nose shoved into the crook of Dean’s neck and his arm pulling Dean close against his body. Snoring filled the room seconds later and Dean rolled his eyes. Yeah, he was totally going to be able to sleep through that.

Sharp painful beeping woke Dean hours later to en empty bed and a cold cup of coffee. He found a crumpled note on his husband’s pillow that read ‘took Jack to park, Claire is ‘out’ doing something ‘with friends’, be back for lunch’. The alarm clock told him he had two hours to drown himself in the shower or pluck up the courage to call his mom and tell her that he would rather be torn to shreds by a Hell Hound than go to his grandparent’s house for Christmas. Motivated despite the pounding headache, Dean levered himself out of bed and ducked his head under a freezing cold spray before gulping down the stale coffee and heading for the kitchen.

He picked up his cell, on charge by the toaster, and clicked over his mom’s number. 

“Morning, honey!” She chirped. Normally it was Dean and Mary who were morning people, up at six to brew the coffee and enjoy the sunrise before starting on their day before Sam rolled out of bed and his dad grudgingly joined them. Except these days Dean worked two jobs, part time at Bobby’s Scarp-yard and Garage, and full time at the bar ‘Rocky’s’ that he co-owned with his good friend Pamela Barns who brought in as many customers as she chased off. Owning a bar meant late nights, and last night had been even later than normal. He wasn’t the only one who had changed though, last time Sam stayed with him, Dean had woken up at eight am to find Sam returning from a morning run with coffee and baked goods in tow. Rehab had taught him healthy body and healthy mind were interlinked, and Sam was determined to stay on the straight and narrow. 

“We can’t leave the dog!” Dean announced without context.

“You don’t have a dog,” his mom countered quickly.

“If I get one is that a good enough excuse?”

“You can bring it with you, Dad loves dogs.”

“Yeah, he probably puts them in the stew,” Dean grumbled.

“Don’t be ridiculous Dean, you know dad can’t cook.”

“Mom, I’m sorry I just don’t want to go.”

“Why not? They are your family, Dean, that means something to me, to all of us.”

“It means they get to insult me while you excuse them and dad take his aggression out on the car. They’ve never even met Jack and I’d rather not expose him to their hostility.”

“No hostility, Dean, they are just… they’re just grandparents. Old and set in their ways. My grandparents were like that too, you just have to forgive them their small mindedness and enjoy the time you have left with them.”

“Seriously? Mom, Grandpa will outlive the devil out of pure stubbornness.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” she said, softly as if she wasn’t talking to him. Then, louder; “Dean! C’mon, it won’t be that bad. It’s the first time in years we’ll be having Christmas with them, and I know they are old fashioned but they love you. Look, come this year and next year I promise me and your dad will do something small for just us. I’ll even throw in your favourite pie!”

“Mom-”

“And I love you. They are my parents and it would mean the world to me if you and Castiel were here with us for Christmas.”

“Sure, play the mom card,” Dean said but sighed. “Let me talk to Cas.” Dean hung up the phone with the knowledge that he had caved with almost no effort at all. Damn. He should have just RSVP’d ‘no way in Hell and I mean it’ and dealt with the fall out.


	2. Chapter 2

Lunch time rolled around and no Cas only a voice-mail to say he’s been spotted by a neighbour and gone to help them with some garden work while their kids played. Dean went out and opened up Baby, knowing that the only thing that would stop him spiralling was working on his Impala. Hours went by and finally Castiel walked up the drive with Jack in his little push-along-trike.

“Daddy!” Jack exclaimed, jumping off and barrelling into Dean.

“Jack, little man. You have fun?!”

“Yep. Fun. ‘Ollylop.”

“Poppa gave you a lollypop?” Dean asked, eyebrows raised high as the man himself leaned in for a kiss.

“No, I did not. The children of the neighbour I was helping broke into their candy supply and ate a rather large amount of sugared treats before I discovered them.”

“So he won’t be having a nap then?”

Cas’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t think this gets you out of our argument.” 

“Where’s Claire? Something about friends you said? I didn’t know she had any friends?” Dean changed the subject quickly, picking Jack up and carrying him inside. Castiel left the trike in the garage and followed them through the adjourning door and into the kitchen.

“She isn’t home yet? I’ll call her.”

“Don’t, Cas.”

“She said she would join us for lunch.”

“Okay, well text her. She’s sixteen, Cas, not a baby. Don’t breathe down her neck or she’ll bite your head off.”

“She’s sixteen, not eighteen, and like you said she doesn’t have any friends that live round here so who is she meeting. I’m concerned.”

“Sure, me too, but it’s Lebanon not New York, she’s probably smoking weed out by the Gas n’ Sip listening to Edgar Allen Poe on audiobooks or something.”

“And you’d be okay with that? Her poisoning her body?”

“No, but she’s sixteen. When Sammy was sixteen he was a nightmare, and the more Dad put on him the more he rebelled. I don’t want her to think we don’t trust her.”

“We trust her?”

“Hell no, she’s sixteen. But that’s why we have the tracker app on her phone. I just think it’s a bit extreme to use that when a text will do.”

“I think we should revisit your stance on smoking,” Castiel said flatly while he chopped up a carrot and some cheese for Jack to snack on while he played on his iPad in front of the tv. It was unlikley he would nap after eating candy but they could hope he drifted off or else he would be a nightmare come four pm.

“You want to talk about Christmas instead?” Dean suggested with a bright sarcastic smile.

“That bad?” Castiel guessed.

Dean sent a quick ‘where the hell are you, you better not be smoking’ text to Claire before leaning against the counter and scrubbing a hand over his face. “She mommed me good and proper.”

“Dean, you hate your grandparents.”

“Well, technically I only hate Samuel, but yes, I know.”

“Every time you see them you end up frustrated and miserable. I do not enjoy seeing you like that.”

“I know. I know! Shit, if I could get out of it I would but it’ll upset mom.”

“You can’t keep putting her over yourself. It’s not your responsibility to ensure your mom is happy.”

“No? I’m the eldest son, pretty sure it’s part of the gig.”

“It’s not, Dean. Neither was it your job to look after Sammy growing up while your dad lost his mind over your mom’s health. You grew up too fast, and that burden weighs on you even now.”

The vibration of an incoming text cut the tension in the air. Dean glanced down and saw a reply from Claire;

\- Ew. Cigarettes are gross. I’ll be home in an hour -

“Claire’ll be here in an hour.”

“So closer to an hour and a half,” Castiel surmised. 

“Want to have that make up sex now?”

“Jack is-”

“We’ll lock the doors and put the baby monitor on. C’mon, Cas, when do we get a change to fuck in daylight?”

Castiel’s cheeks turned slightly pink at Dean’s crassness. “I’m not finished with this discussion.”

“Yes, you are. Unless you think you can change my mother’s mind? No, didn’t think so.”

“I guess make up sex it is. Although we haven’t really got any making up to do, so the name is incorrect.”

“Yeah, but if it’s make up sex you get to call me naughty words and be extra rough,” Dean suggested.

Castiel paused as if thinking it over. “Get the monitor, I’ll lock the doors.”

Claire arrived back to find the house locked up and had to call on her cell to get them to open up as she had left her key at home. When she saw the rumpled state of her parents she rolled her eyes and told them they were too old for daylight quickies. Castiel and Claire got into an argument about ‘honesty’ and where she was, while Dean prepped homemade burgers for dinner, it was one of the only things he could cook and coincidentally his favourite thing to eat. Eventually the subject of Christmas came up.

“No,” Claire said, and took another bite of her burger.

“No?” Dean looked at Cas. “No?”

“Claire, you can’t just-”

“No, Jack ‘can’t just’, because he’s two and can’t understand homophobia or you know most of what people say. I, however, can.”

“Well you can’t stay alone for Christmas. I’ve seen that movie and no way is that happening on my watch!” Dean said.

Cas sent him a confused glare before turning back to his niece. “Claire, what are your plans?”

Claire put her food down, a sure sign that something serious was going on with her, and bit at her lip before confessing, “I was hoping to go stay with Jodie and… and Alex, you know. Girl time.”

“Uh huh. You mean Jodie, Alex and Kaia your girlfriend? Is that where you were hoping to go?” Dean asked, eyebrows raised.

“Uh, well, technically she will be there… but so will Patience!”

“You don’t even like Patience. Or Alex.”

“I love Alex, she’s like the sister I never wanted.”

“Funny.”

Claire grinned. “I thought so.”

Cas and Dean shared a look. “I’ll call Jodie, see how she feels about it.”

Dean wasn’t a fan of the plan, however he knew Jodie would keep an eye on the girls and it wasn’t like Claire would make going to his grandparent’s easier. She was too much like him, wouldn’t shut up about her life to please others, and in that way Dean guessed he and Cas had done a good job in raising her especially considering the uber-conservative Christian background that her mom and dad had come from. Still, having a strong willed daughter was sometimes a blessing and a curse.


	3. Chapter 3

“I packed some dental dams!” Dean yelled as he made his way to the car to dump the rest of the bags. Jack was already in his booster seat with his iPad playing Paw Patrol and Castiel was just double checking the house for anything they had left behind, like their sanity and ideals.

“Dean!” Claire shouted at him in abject humiliation as she followed him out of the house.

“What, I just want you to be safe.”

“It’s not like I can get knocked up!” Claire hissed.

“No, but you could get herpes.”

“You are disgusting. I’m not going to get herpes!”

“No, because you’ll use a dental dam. Or just don’t have sex.”

“With Kaia?”

“Ever.” Dean smiled big and wide. Claire glared and muttered something unintelligible under her breath before ducking into the car next to her brother.

“Cas, we gotta get on the road!” They were taking a road trip, six hours to Sioux Falls, staying the night at Jodie’s, then just less than that to get to their grandparents farmhouse. Dean couldn’t have planned it better, he’ll be exhausted when he gets there, the perfect excuse to not be polite and graceful. Hopefully he can get away with sleeping through the most agonising parts of the day and drinking the rest. Best plan ever.

“You know, Jodie offered me a plane ticket,” Claire pointed out as she fiddled with her headphones.

“Please, like I’m letting you get on a plane. Those things are death traps. The only thing that should fly are birds and dragons.”

“Dragons? Really?” Claire rolled her eyes.

“Look, I’m going to drive the first three hours, then we’ll have a break and some lunch and Cas will drive the rest of the way.” 

“I’m pretty sure getting on a faulty plane would be safer than letting Castiel drive us,” Claire said drolly.

“Ha ha, funny,” Dean said, with enough wariness in his voice that Claire thought she made her point, and put her new airpods in, the ones that Dean had gifted her for Christmas because he didn’t-want to-hear-any-more-of-what-Claire-called-‘music’. 

The journey was uneventful, and Dean stopped for gas and lunch at 2:30pm somewhere that had a park for Jack to run around in. When it came time for Castiel to drive them Dean suggested that Cas sit with Jack and try to keep him awake while Claire and Dean sat up front so he could talk to her about her upcoming driver’s ed. Castiel saw nothing of this and did so, with both Claire and Dean breathing a sigh of relief. They arrived at Jodie’s by six pm, with hugs and dinner waiting for them. Jack of course was asleep by this point, Cas had only had mild success with his mission, so they put him up in the travel cot Jodie had set up in Patience’s room since she was visiting her dad.

This was what Christmas should be, Dean thought, as he sat next to Castiel inhaling turkey, mac n cheese, gravy, and potatoes while he pushed anything green or orange to the side. Jodie, Alex, Claire, Kaia… they all laughed openly, loved just the same and fought as well. Nothing was hidden for the sake of family, as if blood was more important than love and acceptance. Dean had grown up under his dad’s imposing thumb, believing there was something wrong with him because he wanted to sleep with men just as much as women. Nothing explicit was ever said, but when John caught Dean flirting with a bag packing boy at the Piggy Wiggly his dad started asking more and more about girls and how Dean should find himself a ‘nice girlfriend’ to keep his wondering eyes busy. When Dean had fallen in love with Castiel and finally come out to his parents they’d both been shocked. Dean had felt a little betrayed; it wasn’t like on television where the mom said ‘I know, I’ve always known’ and hugged him, she looked genuinely surprised as if it had never crossed her mind. John had obviously decided that if he discouraged Dean enough then he’d tow the heterosexual line, and it worked for a while with Dean too scared of his dad’s disapproval to even smile at a guy, but when he’d moved out and met Castiel… some things were more important than fear and Cas was one of them. Besides, John and Mary had mostly accepted Castiel even if sometimes he sensed some discomfort. It was one of the reasons Dean kept his distance and rarely traversed the four hours between their towns to visit his parents, and usually only when Sammy was home.

Claire wouldn’t grow up the way Dean did. Her attraction to Kaia was treated the same way her fleeting interest in boys had been, with plenty of ribbing, support, and STD protection. Dean hadn’t been kidding about the dental dam, even if Claire insisted that they weren’t having sex yet.

They exchanged gifts, Jodie got him a Metallica compilation, some expensive beers, and a pair of gloves. Cas got gloves as well, a book about recycling and a basket of organic foods. Jodie would drive Claire back in time for the New Year, not put her on a plane, drive, Dean made sure that distinction was clear.

“Be good,” Dean said, pretending to punch Claire in the shoulder as they said their goodbyes.

“Ditto,” she copied him, but less with the pretending.

“This is the first Christmas in eight years that you’ve been away for,” Dean attempted to vocalised his feelings, something Castiel had encouraged him to do when they decided to adopt Claire.

“I’ll miss you too,” Claire reassured him.

“All grown up now, huh?”

“More than you,” she said with a smile. Dean pulled her into a hug and then pushed her away. “See you in a week.”

“I love you,” she said, and then accepted a hug from Cas. Dean pretended he couldn’t overhear her making him promise to look after Dean while he was at his grandparents house. He liked to think she didn’t know about the stuff that had been said when she had been first adopted by Dean and Castiel following the death of her parents, but she was a clever kid and he hadn’t always been able to protect her. They were all determined to do better for Jack.

They hugged it out with Jodie, Alex and Kaia before getting on the road again, Dean safely in the driver seat as Castiel’s hand stayed calm and steady on his thigh.

“Think we should have left Jack with them?”

Dean peeked in the mirror to check on their son and shook his head. “No, Jodie’s done enough mothering for us. She deserves a break, not that she’ll get one with three teenage girls but at least it isn’t changing nappies and waking up in the middle of the night.”

“You aren’t ready to let him out of your sight either,” Castiel surmised.

“I didn’t say that,” Dean protested.

Castiel squeezed his thigh. “But I heard it anyway.”

Dean didn’t say anything and instead lent forward to play the CD that Jodie had brought him, all the way to Kansas.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey mom,” Dean said, getting out of the car as his mother rushed towards him. She embraced him in a big hug that he didn’t want to escape, not that he could, and when she finally released him he ruffled her surprisingly short blond locks. “Nice hair.”

“Thanks. Think it makes me look younger?”

“Oh yeah, at least one year.”

“Oh shucks, I was only aiming for ten months younger.”

They smiled at each other before Dean turned to his dad who gave him a manly handshake and an enthusiastic pat on the back. Behind them Mary hugged Castiel before gushing over Jack. 

“You’re so big now!” She said as she picked him up out of his booster seat and held him close. “Do you remember me?”

“Gramma!” Jack said as he slobbered around his hand.

“Yay! I’m your Grandma and I love you so much. This is Grandpa, you say Grandpa?”

“Pumpa!” Jack announced gleefully.

Mary laughed. “John, do you remember when Dean used to call your dad pumpa?”

“Sure,” he agreed, and kissed his grandson hello. “I’m your pumpa and don’t let anyone tell you different, kid.”

“Come on, let’s settle in. You guys are in the barn house.” Mary led them off with Castiel, Dean and John carrying luggage. “You guys can settle in until dinner. Mom’s serving meatloaf.” 

“You aren’t going near it, though right? Only Grandma is cooking?” Dean checked.

Mary glanced at her son with amusement. “I brought you some pie from the store for afters. It’s in the kitchenette of the barn house so you don’t even have to share.”

“Best mom ever!”

Dean and Cas got some rest in while Mary kidnapped Jack to play with. And by rest Dean meant sleep, he was shattered after driving to Sioux Falls and back again and just wanted to forget what being behind the wheel felt like. Cas woke him with a dry lipped kiss an hour before dinner so he could shower and turn up fashionably early for quality time with the grandparents. He could hardly contain his excitement. 

“So,” Samuel sniffed. “Castiel, how is your niece Claire?” Dean’s jaw ticked and he took a large swallow of liquor to stop the anger form exploding from his mouth. His grandfather always did that, talked about Claire only as Castiel’s relation even though Cas and Dean had adopted her six years ago, with Claire’s own blessing, and raised her for eight years. Sure, she didn’t call them dad, but she knew they were her family.

“Claire is well.”

“I miss her, where is she this holiday?” Deanna asked, sincerity flowing through her voice. It was why Dean avoided time with grandma even more than spending time with Samuel. His grandfather was an old fashioned ass hole made of homophobia, a little racism and a whole lot of intolerance for anyone who didn’t immediately think he was right, so it was easy to hate him and put up with him for mom’s sake. Grandma, however, was a dear woman with awful taste in men who never bothered to re-educate herself. Her ideas and values were old fashioned because she was old, not because she was being deliberately obtuse. Maybe the result was the same, but intentions mattered where Dean was concerned. He’d not exactly grown up in the most liberal minded family but he knew the difference between hate and ignorance. 

“Claire’s staying with Jodie.”

“You mean Kaia’s foster mom?” His dad butted in unhelpfully, raised eye brow and his own glass of amber liquor in his hands. Claire kept in touch with Mary and John far more than Dean did with either sets of grandparents. Her mom’s mom was in a home with dementia and called Claire ‘Amelia’ the few times they had been to see her, but it upset Claire too much to visit so they hadn’t been for over a year, and her mom’s dad was long dead. Castiel and James’ parents were alive, but they had disowned Cas a long time ago and written Claire off as a lost cause when the courts awarded Dean and Cas custody over them, mostly due to her ailing health and his alcohol addiction that didn’t stop him from going to church every Sunday.

“Well, to be fair Jodie fostered Claire while we sorted out legalities, so I guess Jodie is her foster mom too,” Dean defended their decision. 

“So you’re saying that Kaia is her foster sister? Claire is dating her foster sister?” Samuel asked incredulously, with derision dripping from his tongue. Dean sent him a hard look.

“I’m saying Claire is with people who love and accept her this holiday season,” he said with an ugly smile and a tip of his glass before he swallowed the rest of the amber liquid down.

“Well, what you are calling love isn’t exactly what the Lord would call love, is it?” Samuel responded.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dean asked angrily, standing up. Cas put a gentling hand on his partner’s arm but sent Samuel a foul look of his own.

“Nothing, just love isn’t the same as family, is it,” Deanna said, trying to soothe the friction.

“Yeah, can’t imagine why Claire would choose to spend time with people who love and accept her rather than family,” he said with heavy sarcasm on the last word. He shook Cas’s hand off and left the room, taking the bottle with him.

“I’ll go after him,” Mary said, scraping her chair back from the table.

“You’ll do no such thing!” Samuel said without raising his voice. “If the boy wants to act-”

“Don’t start-” John did raise his voice, but Dean didn’t stick around to find out if he was going to defend his eldest son or argue just to spite the old man.

“Mary, Dean really would be better off getting some fresh air. I’m sure he’ll join us later,” Castiel, his beloved peacekeeping husband, reassured his mom and Dean slipped out on to the porch, breathing deep like a therapist he’d seen only once had told him to do. Dean had had a panic attack after kissing Castiel in front of an elderly couple who then condemned him and told them they were headed for Hell. It hadn’t been so much that people had seen them be openly affectionate that had freaked him out, more that Castiel believed in God, and been raised a good Christian boy, and Dean hated to think that by choosing Dean Castiel was sacrificing something pure like heaven or even the possibility of it. Dean had convinced himself he was unworthy. The therapist tried to help, but Dean hadn’t felt comfortable opening up to a stranger and talking about his feelings. The only thing that he had taken away from the session was the breathing exercises that he had a feeling he would be using excessively during the next forty eight hours. 

Once he was calmer he rejoined his family, and luckily no one mentioned Claire or being gay again, so he was able to drink in peace and watch Castiel laugh at a story that Mary was telling him, something about Dean trying to change Sammy’s nappy and Sam was crawling away from him. Dean couldn’t have been more than five in the story, another remnant of a fucked up childhood but not something he wanted to forget or could resent. Mary had been ill, in and out of treatment centres for cancer. She’d been diagnosed when Sammy was still in her womb but refused early treatment because they would have had to abort. Sammy had been born, costing them both a healthy mother, but Dean hadn’t let him go without love and care even if their dad had been too busy destroying himself over their mom to do his job. Sometimes when Dean remembered that he felt less guilty for disappointing his dad by falling in love with a man, but that was rare.

That night Dean and Castiel settled into the converted barn house apartment a good two hundred feet away from the large farmhouse his grandparents lived in. Most of the year round this was where his cousins bunked down for early morning shifts on the farm, however they spent Christmas in their own homes with their wives and children. However, as such, the barn house was little more than a kitchenette with microwave, coffee machine and fridge, a shower cubicle, a toilet and three small bedrooms with single beds that were cheaply made and resembled cots more than actual beds. After this ‘holiday’ Dean was sure Castiel would have a bad back again. He assumed they had been given these rooms in order to prevent them from sleeping together, however Dean hadn’t slept without Castiel in nearly ten years and wasn’t about to let a narrow bed and an even more narrow minded man stop them from being close.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean woke Christmas morning to the smell of coffee and an urge to hide under the bed like a scared five year old. Instead he checked his phone, messaged Claire a ‘Merry Christmas’ and got up to find his son. Jack was awake in the travel cot and from the amount of toys in with him it was obvious that Castiel had been up with Jack for a while.

“Daddy! Kissmuss!” Jack said excitedly. “Appy Kissmuss!” 

Dean leaned down and Jack jumped up into his arms. “Happy Christmas, Jack.” He hugged his son close and took a deep breath of Jack’s head, a smell that was 10% shampoo, 30% sweat and 60% unique to Jack. It eased the tension in his chest. Dean remembered a time when he hadn’t been able to hold Jack like this and feel complete, when he had thought adopting Jack was a mistake and would ruin his relationship with Castiel. Cas, however, had loved Jack from the womb, staying close to his birth mother almost to the exclusion of Dean. Dean had fallen in love with Jack, not as suddenly and organically as Cas, but he did love his son and never wanted him to know the way Dean had felt at the beginning. Whispering promises to always protect Jack and love him forever, he went to go join his husband.

“Thought you were still asleep. Was going to wake you with something better than coffee, but here,” Dean accepted the warm mug.

“Bacon?” Dean guessed slyly.

“Something better, but sure you can have bacon.”

“Best husband ever!”

“Although we have to go to the main house for that.”

“Damn, I forgot that this place didn’t have a stove.”

“I text your mom this morning, she said John’s doing a big breakfast for everyone at ten just after Sam arrives.

Dean signed, “my dad. If it wasn’t for him me and Sam would have starved growing up. Well, him and the Piggly Wiggly. I inherited my skills from my mom.”

“You’re a better cook than Mary,” Castiel assured him dryly. “She once burned canned custard.”

Dean laughed, as he was meant to, and kissed his husband’s stubbled jaw. “Happy Kissmuss, Cas.” 

“Happy Kissmuss, Dean.”

“Appy Kissmuss!” Jack shouted in both of their ears, throwing his arms out to encompass Cas as well as Dean. 

“Let’s get this day started. I’m taking a shower, you want to join and wake me up like you planned to?” Dean said with a lascivious once over of Cas stood in the kitchen bare footed in a navy blue dressing gown and blue and white pinstriped pyjamas that had been gifted to him by his mom last year despite the fact Cas slept naked as the day he was born.

“If I could fit in that shower with you I would,” Cas said. “However I’m going to get me and Jack dressed and start walking the presents over to the main house. I’ll meet you over there at ten fifteen?”

“Ten twenty, not sure I can socialise with those people before I can smell bacon in the air,” Dean said with a grin. Cas kissed him and took Jack out of Dean’s hands and went back to Jack’s bedroom, allowing Dean some time to compose himself.

Ten twenty came and Dean met Castiel on the porch of his grandparents house. Just as they bumped shoulders the sound of a car pulling up made Dean turn around to watch his brother and Sam’s fiancee arrive.

“Sammy, glad you could make it!” Dean embraced his brother with a chest smacking hug before kissing Eilene on the cheek and signing hello to her. 

“Good drive?” Castiel signed and spoke out loud. Castiel had once taught bible studies to deaf children and was proficient at ASL whereas Dean only knew a few phrases. Eileen had been dating Sam for nearly two years, but they mostly communicated via text and video call due to the 25 hour drive between their homes.

“We took a flight,” Eileen said. “And didn’t die. It’s a miracle Dean,” she joked.

“Hey, hundreds of people did in plane crashes every year.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not true, Dean,” Sam corrected him wryly.

“Well it could be, and I for one will not be one of those people.”

“What about the thousands who die in car accidents?” Eileen asked, straight faced.

“Well, that’s why I don’t let Cas drive,” Dean winked at her, having managed to sign ‘no’, ‘drive’ and point as Castiel who was now frowning at his husband.

“I am a perfectly safe driver,” Cas said stiffly. 

“Yeah. Safe for you. You drive like a grandma, gives everyone else road rage. That’s who I’m worried about.” 

“Alright you two, let’s go inside and see our actual Grandma before she puts us on the naughty list and we get coal.”

“Hey, that only happened once!” Dean protested as they all made their way back inside the farm house.

“Yeah, and it was your fault then too!” Sam groused good naturedly. 

Inside it felt a bit more like Christmas. The tree was the same, the tinsel, candles, baubles, lights and music all the same as last night but Sam’s arrival made all the difference. The smell of bacon helped, and Dean eagerly sat down with his extended family for his dad’s famous Christmas morning breakfast complete with eggnog. 

At about one pm he received a snapchat from Claire and Kaia wishing them a happy Christmas, with a blushing Claire and an adoring Kaia. It was the cutest thing Dean had ever seen. He immediately text Claire back to remind her to use the dental dams. She didn’t reply.

By afternoon everyone was feeling cheery from the effect of alcohol. Jack was running around from relative to relative showing everyone the toys he got and enjoying tickles. He asked for a puppy from Santa and wanted every single adult to explain why Santa hadn’t gotten him a puppy, with Castiel and Dean exchanging knowing looks behind their son’s back. They’d talked about it extensively and were adopting a puppy in the New Year because dogs were not presents they were an extension of the family. Jack didn’t know about it, but Claire had helped choose the puppy and named him Miracle.

Sam caught Dean alone on a run to the kitchen for another bottle of the wine his Grandma and Mom loved so much. When his mom drank wine she sang songs and danced alike no one was watching, so for that reason Dean always encouraged her to drink a glass or two. Freedom looked good on his Mom, and when she was like that even his Dad forgot to be fierce and acted more like the twenty year old who had fallen in love with her and less like the thirty year old who had almost lost her.

“Hey, man, can I have a word?”

“Sure, Sammy, hell it’s Christmas you can have a whole sentence,” he joked, feeling festive as the whiskey circulated through his body.

“It’s mom.”

“What about her?” Dean asked, searching for a specific bottle of red that tasted like cherries and made him wince the one time he’d taken a sip.

“Dean, I think she’s ill again.”

Dean stopped what he was doing and turned to look at his brother’s furrowed brow. “Why? Did she say something to you?”

Sammy shook his head. “It’s just… the way she was talking about this Christmas, as if it was so important that we all get together, and her hair, man she’s never had short hair except when she’s about to have chemo.”

Dean breathed deep.

“She’s fine,” he shook his head, denial lodging stubbornly in his head. She had to be fine, she was his mom. “She just wanted a change.”

“Dea-”

“It’s just hair, Sammy!” Dean barked, grabbing any old bottle of red and charging out of the kitchen. Back in the lounge everyone was still merry and bright. Dean watched his mom as she took another drink of her wine and laughed at something his dad said, low and unintelligible, and pushed his fears aside. His mom was fine. Everyone was fine. This Christmas was hard enough without that to deal with.


	6. Chapter 6

After Christmas dinner had been served and eaten, everyone still around the table with wine and beer in their hands and a fruit juice for Jack, Sammy and Eileen shared an obvious look and then Sam stood up, gaining everyone’s attention.

“We have something to share with you. Eileen and I…. we’re pregnant,” Sam announced. 

A grin spread across Dean’s face.

Eileen thwacked him in the abs. “I’m pregnant,” she said, signing along with her words. “We are having a baby.” 

Sam grinned sheepishly as everyone laughed. “Yeah, you are doing all the hard work,” he agreed.

“Don’t worry, you can do plenty of hard work when the baby is born,” she assured him, to everyone’s delight.

“Congratulations, man!” Dean embraced him, and then Eileen.

“Is there a risk of the baby being deaf?” Samuel asked, ever the jackass.

“I…. did he say what I think he said?” Eileen asked.

“Uh…”

“Dad!”

“Samuel!” 

“I can’t believe you would say that, Dad!”

Samuel looked attacked, he genuinely didn’t understand why everyone was getting at him. “What? I’m just asking.”

“My baby would be loved even if she or he was deaf, blind, gay or transgender. My love is not conditional. But no, my deafness is because of an accident that happened when I was born and not a birth defect. Asshole,” Eileen reamed Samuel out in a way that Dean truly admired, but he could see the tears in her eyes as she flew past him and out of the lounge.

Sam looked torn as he watched her leave. “I’ll go,” Dean said, he knew more than anyone how much Samuel’s comments could burn.

“What? I was just asking,” Samuel insisted as his wife sent him a foul look.

“I’m so happy for you, baby!” Mary hugged Sam, emotion swimming in her eyes. “How far along is she?”

“Twenty weeks, but we are waiting to find out the gender.”

“How exciting, Sam! And Mary, your first grandchild!” Deanna gushed.

“Well, no, it isn’t,” Castiel said, looking pointedly at Jack who was playing with Legos on the floor by John’s feet.

“Uh, well… I only meant-”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Cas said dryly, his expression carefully blank to prevent Jack from picking up on his barely bottled rage. “Perhaps you shouldn’t say anything else, unless you want to upset everyone this Christmas.”

“That’s enough,” Samuel barked. “You don’t talk to my wife that way, especially when you aren’t-”

“Aren’t what? Welcome? That much is obvious.”

“Family.” Samuel finished.

Castiel nodded. “I’m sure you see it that way, but Dean doesn’t see you as family. You are just an obligation he doesn’t want to fulfil, and coming to see you makes him miserable for weeks afterwards. Thankfully Claire, Jack and myself will be around to repair the damage you cause and remind him what family really is. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll take my son to the ‘guest’ house for the remainder of the afternoon. Sam, apologies, I am genuinely happy for you.”

“Thanks, Cas,” Sam said, and Cas picked up Jack and his toys and left the room.

“Mum, dad… I am of course happy that I’m getting a first grandchild from Sam, but I already have two grandchildren in Jack and Claire.”

“Of course, Mary, that’s what I meant,” Deanna rushed to assure her.

“No, it isn’t,” Samuel interrupted. “They aren’t blood. They aren’t family by marriage in most states.”

“They are my family,” Mary insisted. “By choice, if not legality and blood. And that’s more important, dad. Stop being so close minded before Dean chooses not to be your family any more, because I’m done playing mediator.” Mary said, shocking everyone.

“Hell yes!” John said, having been uncharacteristically silent during the holiday.

“Oh please, Jonathan, it’s not like you support Dean’s life choices any more than we do,” Samuel said.

“I do. Maybe it’s not what I imagined for him, and it’s not the easy choice but I love my son and watching Castiel stand by Dean for better and worse for ten years has shown me that the gender of your partner is immaterial, it’s the soul that’s important. Hell, look at Sam’s previous relationships!”

Sam gave him a look. “Thanks dad!” Before Sam had made the best choice of his life to date and asked Eileen to marry him, he had been married and widowed within a week, married and divorced within a month, and spent a year in an unhealthy relationship with a drug addict named Ruby who’s gotten him hooked before Dean had carted him off to rehab to get clean. Sam’s mistakes had all been made with good intentions and pure of heart, which was why Dean always forgave him.

John shrugged. “Admit your mistakes and grow from them, son.”

“Good advice,” Sam said pointedly, but it went over John’s head like normal. “I’m going to find my fiancee now.”

“At least tell me you are getting married before the baby arrives!” Samuel called after him.

“Oh for God’s sake, Dad!” Mary scoffed loudly.

Christmas night and almost everyone of them went to bed angry or bitter, perhaps apart from those too drunk to do anything other than pass out, and of course Jack who was too young to really understand the words and tension flying around the room. 

Dean was tucked up with Castiel, his mind chaos. He hadn’t drank enough to pass out and wasn’t sober enough to muddle through the day. He knew his husband was long away from sleep as well from the tension in his body and the uneven breaths that brushed against Dean’s hair.

“Is this where you tell me we never should have come?” Dean asked into the darkness.

“You hate it hear,” Cas pointed out. “I hate to see you hurting.”

Dean ached at that. He couldn’t stand Castiel in pain, yet it baffled him when Cas felt the same way. The concept of someone loving him the exact same way he loved them was a lot for Dean to handle and even ten years down the line could shock Dean. So he deflected.

“Cas, your parents disowned you when you came out.”

“Well, I like to think of it as me disowning them. Besides, I still had Jimmy, and unfortunately Gabriel.”

“I know. I just mean… I expected dad to disown me, you know, and when he didn’t I felt like I had to do everything I could to make them love me, including putting up with Samuel.”

“Dean, your parents love you unconditionally. They aren’t going to abandon you, even if you say no to seeing Samuel ever again. I doubt Sam will be eager to visit after what he said about Eileen.”

“Yeah. Maybe. We won’t come back next year,” Dean said, but it sounded like he was begging rather than promising.

“Even if we do, I’ll still be here with you.”

Dean breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed into his husband’s arms. Minutes later he was asleep.

The next morning was for goodbyes. Dean avoided Samuel by being busy with every other family member whenever Samuel was free. Sam gave him a dutiful hand shake but said very little and Eileen refused to look in his direction which made it impossible for him to even attempt to communicate with her. Eileen did give Dean a long, hard hug and promised to look after herself and the baby who was going to be Dean’s nephew, although don’t tell Sam because he wanted a surprise. Dean promised and kissed her on the cheek before moving on to his mom. 

“Mom, is everything okay?”

“Sure, baby. Other than this dreadful holiday.”

“No, I mean with your health. Sam… he thinks because of your hair…”

“No, no, Dean. I’m fine. The cancer hasn’t come back. I genuinely wanted a change. I’m fifty six years old, Dean, and my hair is gray under all this blonde dye. I want to grow old gracefully, and I’m okay with that. I’m not ill, promise.”

“Good,” Dean said, and hugged her back close. “Because I’m not ready to lose you.”

“Oh baby, we are never ready to lose our parents. Why do you think I keep coming back here even after all the years of disapproval and criticism. When I married John I thought I was losing them, and when that didn’t happen I guess I just did everything I could to hang on to them even when it made John uncomfortable, when it made Sam run, and when it made you ashamed. I’m sorry for that.”

“It made you sad, as well mom.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Promise me next year we’ll go to Sammy’s to see the baby and we’ll stick to just people who love us unconditionally.”

“I promise.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Home.” Dean said softly into the silence. Castiel was half asleep next to him and Jack was sniffling his way through a cold clogged nose as he dreamed. 

“Are you okay?” Castiel asked the one question his grandparents never cared to hear the answer to.

He took a deep breath. “I am now. How about you?”

“I will be when Claire gets home. I just want all of our family under one roof.”

“We’ll celebrate New Year’s Day like that,” Dean promised.

“Oh yeah? Which one of us is going to cook?” He asked pointedly.

Dean was self-sufficient with food and could grill a steak or make a few classic favourites like burgers or meatballs but he wasn’t one for extended periods of time in the kitchen, often forgetting he’d left something on and burning it or half cooking the vegetables because he wasn’t going to eat them anyway so didn’t bother taste testing them before serving. Claire had taken after Dean in her choices of food and would push a piece of broccoli around for an hour rather than put it in her mouth. They were lucky that both of them had good genes and enjoyed activities like kick-boxing, swimming and the kind of obstacle courses with inflatable boulders and eight feet rope fences. Castiel cooked the way he drove, to the letter of the law or in this case to the gram of the recipe, and it either ended in tears or success and there was no way to anticipate either outcome. Cas still didn’t understand how he could go wrong while following a recipe, but his cousin Gabriel had assured him that cooking was an art and not a science and that made all the difference. Gabriel cooked with his heart and made a damned good living out of it, however the only thing Castiel did with his heart was love Dean and their family with every beat.

“We’ll get take out,” Dean compromised. 

“It’s probably for the best,” Castiel agreed, and pressed a dry kiss to his husband’s lips. Dean raised his left hand to cup the back of Castiel’s neck and deepened the kiss with his tongue. A loud groan echoed in the car. “You know what Claire being gone does mean?” Cas said breathlessly when he finally broke the kiss.

Dean smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

They left most of the stuff in the car, secure in the garage, putting Jack into bed and setting up the baby monitor. Cas dialled up the heating and Dean checked the locks before falling into his husband’s embrace.

“We never did have that make-up sex,” Dean reminded Cas as he undid his husband’s pants.

“Because we never argued. Dean, we were always on the same side, our side.”

“Make-up sex is so good though,” Dean said, even while he glowed at the point Castiel was making. They had believed that a letter from his grandparents would put them at each other’s throats, but really it only reminded them that the true meaning of family was to be there for each other no matter what, even if you didn’t agree, even if all you wanted to do was protect the person you loved from bad choices that would inevitably hurt them. 

“I love you forever sex is the best,” Castiel said.

“I love you forever,” Dean agreed, and allowed his husband to prove his point thoroughly.

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING!!!!


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